Home Office refusal leaves Gaza family separated after mother’s cancer death
A Gaza refugee in Glasgow says the refusal to waive biometric checks prevented his sister-in-law’s family from travelling to Britain before her death.
Anwar, a Gaza refugee living in Glasgow, says his sister-in-law Maryam would still be alive if the Home Office had allowed her family to travel to the UK. Maryam later died from cancer, leaving her husband and children, including a seven-month-old baby, in Gaza.
Anwar fled Gaza in 2020 and was granted UK refugee status the following year. In October 2025, he applied for his brother Hassan, Maryam, their two children and other relatives to join him in Britain.
The application required the family to attend a visa application centre for biometric checks. Gaza has no such centre, while travel to one elsewhere is difficult for Palestinians. The family asked the Home Office to waive the requirement and allow pre-entry checks to be deferred.
The Home Office refused the request again on 31 July, despite accepting evidence of Maryam’s renal cell carcinoma, which had spread to her lungs, and the family’s living conditions in Gaza. Doctors there reportedly lacked suitable facilities to treat her.
In a letter seen by The Guardian, officials acknowledged that reliable healthcare might not be accessible and that Maryam faced significant risk in a conflict zone. They nevertheless said the circumstances did not meet the threshold for biometric excusal or predetermination, and that pre-entry checks were required because the family came from “a territory where terrorists operate”.
The family’s lawyers are legally challenging the refusal. Glasgow South MP Gordon McKee had previously urged ministerial intervention, describing the case as involving exceptional humanitarian circumstances. Anwar is now calling on the UK government to protect Maryam’s surviving family and find a way to reunite them in Britain.
